My sister & I have contributed to the alleged overpopulation of planet Earth by producing SIX children. At least we split the job equally, although she might argue for bonus points for her two C-sections & one VBAC.

Being that Smith is such a rare last name and all, and also because Ethan is Dawn's only son, Timothy has dubbed him "Defender of the Name."

In addition to this auspicious title, Ethan answers to the following nick-names: The Nobleman, Son of my Loins, Ethan Allen, Allenizer, Foozer-Nu, Foozer-Nee and let's not forget, Head of an Allen.

What's in a name? Well, lots of stories for one. The quickest version is that my sister & I have a long history of creating our own special language complete with clucking noises, shrieks, rolled R's and intonations. Chalk it up to a TV-deprived childhood and lots of childhood illnesses. All that time spent sick in bed, all those TV-less weekends, all those music-less (yes, secular music was a no-no as well) days---we had to do SOMETHING. So we made up languages.

These days we try to restrain ourselves. We watch TV, we have iPods. But sometimes, just sometimes we can't resist speaking the language and it spills over onto our children.

And I haven't even listed MY children's nick-names yet.